Flyers Earn A Huge Overtime Win In Carolina

Flyers Earn A Huge Overtime Win In Carolina

The Philadelphia Flyers got their number one goaltender back on Tuesday night and picked up a huge road win over the Carolina Hurricanes. It wasn’t pretty at times, but style points are of no concern at this point of the season.

Brian Elliott was called into duty early as he had to bail out Andrew MacDonald just a few minutes into the first period. MacDonald tried a centering pass from the left boards in his own end, but he put it right on the tape of Elias Lindholm’s at the dot where he had his wrist shot denied by Elliott.

Shortly after the by save by Elliott, the Flyers got their first power play of the night, but the chance was wasted as the not only did they not get a shot on goal, but they barely had any zone time due to difficulties getting the puck over the blue line.

Nolan Patrick was sent to penalty box for four minutes thanks to drawing blood with a high-stick (more of an elbow) on Brock McGinn. It was Lindholm who opened up the scoring at 15:05 as the Hurricanes took advantage of a tired penalty kill unit. MacDonald could not block the centering pass from Teuvo Teravainen and Robert Hagg could not tie up the stick of Lindholm on either his first shot or on the rebound that he was able to put home from right in front of the crease.

The Flyers had a much better push in the second period and you can feel a goal coming late in the middle frame. Wayne Simmonds, playing in his 500th game with the Flyers, tied the game at 16:43 by out-muscling Trevor van Riemsdyk in front of the net and putting home the rebound off of a Jakub Voracek shot. Patrick picked up the secondary assist on Simmonds’s 18th goal of the year.

The game headed to overtime after a rather uneventful third period. As the final seconds were ticking off the clock in the extra time, Jordan Weal gave Philadelphia the second most dramatic win this week. Weal fired a wrist shot around McGinn and past Cam Ward for his seventh of the year, giving the Flyers the needed extra point. Shayne Gostisbehere and Valtteri Flippula picked up the assists on the play.

This is the type of win you hope leads to another nice point streak as the Flyers need to put some distance between themselves and the rest of the muddle of teams fighting for a playoff spot. They will return home to host the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday night.